As far as gear goes some is better than none. More is better than some. I came off only 5 weeks ago & hit a tree @ 100km+. That day was a beautiful warm autumn day. I was in my jacket complete with lining & body armour, thick leather gloves with kevlar reinforcing, full face Helmut (no open face) new heavy weight denum jeans, long thick woolen socks & leather boots. None of my gear is top shelf as I just can't afford it. After writing off the bike & breaking my wrist I rode the bike home as a wreck. Had it not been for the gear I was wearing I may not be here at all. There was not a mark on the jacket even after sliding & rolling down the road. Jeans only had one small tear where my knee hit the tree & small cuts on my other leg from the chain. I regularly have an argument with a friend from work about his total lack of gear. He just seems to want to look cool on his cruiser. There is nothing cool about gravel rash & skin grafts. It's his body I suppose but one must spare a thought for the people that have to put us back together.
There is a lot of talk about helmets but as far as I'm concerned only full faced helmets on my head. I saw a post some time back where impact stats were put up. Chin & front of the face accounted for nearly half of all impacts. I was also taught by one of my local bike shops that denum has the same slide coefficient as kevlar as long as the denum is new, not old & worn.

 

Thanks everyone for their opinion. First off I would never ride without a helmet. The question was more geared toward a jacket, gloves and pants. Everyone has made valuable points.

Thanks again!!

 

exactly the first thought that went into my head after reading the OP.

I am by no means ATGATT, but i do ALWAYS wear gear. will not ride w/o a helmet, long pants and gloves. I have a textile jacket for warm days, and a 2 piece leather suit for the more... um... "spirited" rides. I also just bought an exo-skeleton like jacket that is essentially ABS pads held together with a super light mesh for the 90 degree 100% humidity days that New England gets about mid July.

I won;t preach to people about helmets, my attitude is if you don't care about living, who am i to stop you. I also would prefer to sweat than bleed, so I'd say 95% of the time i wear a jacket.

I would say the stigma that goes with "no gear" is one of recklessness and disregard for self and others. Unfortunately our Squidly counterparts who bomb down the highway at 100+ take that to the extreme... and no one remembers the fully geared rider obeying the traffic laws, they remember "that ******* blasting down the highway in a beater and shorts" hence why some people have negative feelings when it comes to wearing gear.

 

Everyone has made such good points.I also dress in full gear,jacket,jeans,helmet,gloves.And like one said the gear we have now rocks you kind of look like your going to battle and the comfort is awesome.I never think bad of riders who dont gear up and I will wave gear or no gear.As for the harley and harley type riders, they do give sport bike riders a bad name and most around here have little to no gear on, I seen a guy with a women on the back with no helmet and so did the state boy that passed us.I am lucky enough to live blocks from a( harley) biker club house.Oh how they love the Cbr,they are the riders that dont wave.There down right mean about the bike and the sport bike gear.Two wheel love, could care less about the make.Glad to see so many are into the gear were so lucky enough to now have ride on to all, the more feed back we give to icon,joe rocket,hjc,shift,etc..the better this gear will get.I love to match my bike.Helped to get my women in to the sport also she likes to go pick out matching gear and they offer great things for women now as well great excuess to get to the bike shop.

 

Totally. Now, it is still pretty cool here in PA, and so every time I leave the house on the bike I wear a helmet, jacket, gloves, jeans and boots.

My jacket is mesh, I wear plenty of layers beneath it to stay warm, and in the summer it will be great protection while still keeping me relatively cool. My gloves are well ventilated, my hands will be great in hot weather, I just wear a liner beneath them when it's cold out.

Helmet 100% of the time. I bought gear that matches my bike and looks great with it, why would I not wear it?

I have ridden in shorts before, and it felt great, but when I think about how the cheese-grater asphalt would feel at 60mph, I plan on wearing jeans. On some of those super-hot days I may go on short rides in shorts, but I plan to wear jeans most of the time, and especially if I'm doing anything more than a quick run to the store or a friend's house.

I don't know what ATTGAT is, but I always wear gear. Always. Especially a helmet. I find those people who don't wear helmets to be exceptionally unintelligent.

 

Yeah, from what I understand that's true, but Kevlar is going to protect you from punctures by sharp stuff in the road a lot better than denim. Both will allow you to slide about equally well, but Kevlar is going to provide better protection overall.

 

Well, if you mean "survival of the fittest," that was someone else's idea, but you're right in that Darwin proposed the reason why: "natural selection occurs because certain members of a population...have a variation that allows them to survive and reproduce to a greater extent than other members."

But there is nothing "natural" about choosing to ride unprotected. I've never heard of any other species that ignores the possibility of death for nothing tangible in return...

 

Jeans are no where near as good as textile+Kevlar riding pants. Denim is thin and tears... Kevlar does not. Also - in most textile pants there is some cushioning material as well.

Translation - no cuts, and far less bruising.

Jeans offer a false sense of security.

 

I have to wear pants year round at my job, and during the summer it's 105 F with high humidity so a hot day outside isn't any big deal to me. My jacket is Mesh with the padding on the elbows shoulders and back, it also has two liners one to stop the wind rain and the other to keep you warm. So far I have had my jacket on for a ride when it's 45 and 90 and have been comfortable for both. Normally I just ride in jeans, but I do try to wear the one pair that has kevlar built in. Then I have my DOT and SNELL rated helmet. I do believe in ATGATT (all the gear all the time) for the one that asked no matter how short the trip is. A co worker of mine took his bike out for a 5 mile ride and a deer jumped out in front of him and he laid it down, no jacket, and had some nice rash.